City Officials Hold Meeting on West Side Bridges

A crowd of around 100, mostly West Side residents, in attendance Tuesday night as the Cumberland Mayor and City Council conducted a special meeting focusing specifically on the CSX owned Washington Street bridge. While potential solutions have been identified for the closed bridges on Fayette and Cumberland streets- Washington Street’s structure presents more engineering challenges and fewer feasible fixes. Among the recommendations that came from the floor included a possible four way stop at Chase and Washington; a one way bridge; and even talk of a draw bridge. Perhaps most encouraging was the city’s willingness to consider an engineering study paid for by the Washington Street Association. Asscoation President Terry Murphy said that the citizens group contracted former Allegany County engineer Kevin Beachy to perform the study…